It's a GIRL!!!

We have a GIRL!!!

Philomena Marie

12-17-10

6#1oz

21 inches

Philomena has been a name we have been thinking of since before we were married. Well, Tom liked it a lot. It grew on me. Now there is no doubt. This girl was meant to be a Philomena. I agreed to the name when hearing what she will go by : Mena! I love it and it fits perfectly.



Not only is Philomena named after a beautiful saint who is very close to our Lord, but it has Greek, and Italian ties. "Meena" is a popular Korean name meaning beautiful. and I just found out that there are many women named Philomena in Ireland!

Anyway. She wasn't due until the 23rd but I was trying to go into labor early. On my way up to my 39week appointment I decided to take the stairs and jog up. By the time I got in to see the doc I was 3cm and 70%effaced. During one of the contractions, which were 2.5min apart, her heart rate dropped. That concerned the doc enough to monitor me for a while and then send me over to labor and delivery. I was in LABOR!! Yay!

My brother came over to watch the boys while Tom hurried to the hospital and hoped he could get off work that night. A couple hours after they put me on the IV fluids, my contractions had noticeably started slowing down. So pitocin was started at 8pm. At 11pm my water was broken. Active labor started at 1:30 when I hit 6cm. Next thing we knew it was nearly 3am and I was 9cm. At that point the doctor was called. He came right in, and caught the baby. 3:06am! 2pushes! As far as labors go, this one was as easy as it gets (minus the epidural of course) I don't know if I would have had time for one if I had wanted one anyway. What a blessing! Stacey my labor and delivery nurse.

Dominic is a big brother again!

and Zachary is a big brother for the first time! He calls her Philomena

but it sounds like "Pretty Mena"


Xavier holding Mena for the first time

Blaise is more excited to meet her than anyone. He has been talking to her in the womb pretty regularly and telling her how much he wants to meet her.

Mena Marie Day1
We left the hospital Saturday afternoon and welcomed our new daughter home.

She was a little jaundiced when we brought her home so she would sit in front of the window with a heater nearby.

Mena's first bath was December 23rd, the day after her cord came off. She ENJOYED the warm water in our bathroom sink. She's so precious.

At a young age, Saint Philomena died a martyr's death instead of denying our Lord and giving herself to Diocletian. He had her imprisoned, scourged, thrown into the Tiber with an anchor, then dragged through the streets of Rome. She was even shot with arrows but they all missed. Nothing worked until he finally had her beheaded. In the meantime, many people came to Christ because of her Christian fortitude and our Lord's protection of her.

St Philomena, pray for us.

A Christmas Baptism

Philomena was baptized into the life of Christ on Christmas Day after the 10:30 Mass by Father Brancich. Meg and Shane Knopp are her godparents.


And Dominic got to serve!

All the prayers and rituals involved in the traditional baptism have such deep meaning. From the actual entrance into the church to the dedication at the end. Oh I'm a sucker for anyone's baptism but especially of my own children. Is there anything more beautiful than bringing a soul to Christ? Thank God for this great blessing!

Grotto of the Redemption

We took a weekend and drove to Westbend Iowa to visit the Grotto of the Redemption.

"The Grotto is a composite of nine separate Grottos, each portraying a scene in the life of Christ. It includes the largest collection of precious stones and gems found anywhere in one location. The beautiful artistry has to be seen in order to be appreciated, and the message it inspires is beyond words."

"The Grotto is frequently considered the "Eighth Wonder of the World" and The Iowan magazine has described the Grotto as a "Miracle in Stone"

http://www.westbendgrotto.com

This was built mostly by Fr. Paul Dobberstein. It was his vision and he lead the construction and collection of rocks. How about that for using an interest and a talent for the glory of God?
"The designed purpose of the Grotto is to tell in silent stone made spiritually eloquent, the story of man's fall and his redemption by Christ, the savior of the world."

There is much symbolism in the way the rocks are displayed.

This scene represents Paradise Lost. Notice the stained glass window. It is lit up on the other side and is of Mary accepting the angel Gabriel's Annunciation. God's promise is fulfilled.
Behind Tom is the Annunciation window. The reverse of Paradise Lost.

The Word became Flesh.

The laying of Jesus in the tomb.

This is carved from one block of marble!

Zachary stopping to smell the flowers

Our Lord's Agony in the Garden

The Nativity surrounded by tons of petrified wood

Jesus' childhood home made of white quartz.

St Joseph is in the other corner with a saw.

Swans and geese on the lake
It was a beautiful weekend! We had dinner at the Wagon Wheel and went swimming in the hotel.

Four years ago we came here with the boys but they didn't remember the grotto. Dominic did remember the waffle iron in the hotel though. lol. That just makes me laugh.

It was a nice little get-away.

Happy Halloween!

This year we went to ICC's party. It's such a great time and very educational too. We learned about some saints we hadn't heard of before. People are really getting creative and doing their research.

This year Dominic chose St Michael the Archangel.

Blaise went as St Francis of Assisi

Xavier was St Patrick


and Zachary was St John the Baptist.

Afterwards we were able to go around to a few (5) houses too. Between the party and the houses, we reaped a lot of candy!

The week before was busy with costume creation.

Here is Blaise helping sew his costume. It kept him from bouncing off the walls for a while anyway.

Out of the old...

Yes! We moved!!! It's been busy but I am finally getting pictures up. The whole thing was a huge process so this post will be of the packing and moving. Our next post will be of our new house. Have to keep this thing complete.

The boys are ready to go...

Dominic is old enough now to be a big help. Here he is packing the spices. He even labled some of the boxes for me.

And of course they made forts with all the boxes laying around before they were used. Oh, did they make forts! Here they are showing Uncle Mike how cool it is. (Yes, he fits anywhere)

Dominic in our dining room closet.

The last two nights in our house we slept on the mattresses in the living room.

Here are Xavier and Zachary

Moving day has arrived!

We had to load all our things into one truck since we were to be homeless for 4 days.

Here are Mike (bro) Mark (cousin) and my dad fitting it in. I'm glad they like puzzles!
Staying at Grandma and Nanoo's before we could move into our new house was super fun! And I am so thankful for the wonderful break between the packing and the unpacking. I couldn't have planned it any better.

And now we are in our new house!!! Here are the boys helping Daddy put together an end table that came last week.

Stay tunned for the next post.. OUR NEW HOUSE!